Serendipity
by Jjah-Jjah
Summary: A down and out Haru, once again, saves the life of a strange cat and is given her heart's desire in return... One Shot


It is I, Jjah-Jjah!

I have returned! Indeed. So, I hope you guys like this. There's nothing too heavy duty romance in it or anything, but that's because I hope this'll be the first in a series of one shots following this plotline. Tell me what you all think. I won't be able to get the next story up horribly soon though, because I need to work on my Inuyasha story and try to get in finally finished. I also have a couple other TCR one shots I want to get out before someone else comes up with the idea… So, yea. That's it. I hope you like it, please read and review!

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Disclaimer: The good folks at Studio Ghibli own The Cat Returns. All I have is an epileptic dog, a senile deaf and partially blind dog, two bodacious cats, a bunch of inbred pigeons, and a tin of sour altoids gum.

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Serendipity

If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought it was a moonless night, but it wasn't a moonless night. She had seen the moon earlier, as round and sinister as one of the Cat King's cat's eyes. Now it was hiding from her. It had scorned her as everyone else had scorned her, not even deigning her with enough light to see by.

She had officially decided that she hated cars. What was so great about them anyway? They were noisy and dangerous. They spewed out toxic gas, and were horribly unromantic. And they ran over cats… As well as people…

It seemed a thousand years away and a thousand nightmares removed, but things had fallen apart as they often do. It was odd, how she felt so numb. She thought she'd feel something, anything; it was ironic. Her entire world had turned inside out and shattered into a million pieces, and she couldn't even cry.

It had all started only a week ago. Seven, on the rising of the sun to be eight, days ago, her mother had been killed. Run over by a four-door sedan, as flat as a cat on the highway. Thus was the reason behind her fledgling hatred of automobiles. And alcohol. Why the hell did people have to think they should drink booze when they could have tea? After all, tea is better for you, it has antioxidants… And it does have a drug in it, if the high is all you're looking for: caffeine! Alcohol is a depressant, anyway, in more ways than one…

It certainly made her depressed after all was said and done. And she hadn't even been the one to take the drink. The man who had killed her mother had been a well-to-do business man on his way home from a night on the town. The poor woman had been crossing the street, in front of several witnesses, in accordance to all traffic laws, coming home from a quilting convention, when the fatally stewed idiot had come barreling into the pedestrian crosswalk at top speed and plowed her down. She hadn't stood a chance…

Haru could still remember the call. Her alarm clock hadn't even gone off yet when the phone rang. She had been bleary-eyed and still half asleep, but as soon as those words had left the receiver, 'we are sorry to inform you that your mother has been in an accident, if you could come down to the hospital as soon as…' After those words had been spoken she had never been so awake in her life.

The figure lying in the bed at the hospital had been altogether too alien, unrecognizable. Her glasses were gone, replaced by rolls of gauze, and red-purple bruises, marring translucent blue-veined skin. Clear plastic tubes had covered her suddenly frail body like spider webs and there had not been room in the air for a sliver of sound, for the metallic breathing of the machines that had been keeping her from falling apart like pottery shards. The pain that had been simmering in each puff of air that woman expelled had been brutal. Haru shivered in memory. How her mother had suffered! She had held on for three agonizing days without so much as twitching an eyelid and then it was over. Haru had stepped out for only a moment, just long enough to take a sip of water from the water fountain just down the hall. When she returned, a swarm of nurses and a doctor or two had been hovering over her mother's body like flies, and all too soon they stilled and looked at her.

She knew, then. They didn't have to say anything. Perhaps in some weird way, her mother had been aware enough to choose to die while her daughter was not in the room. She didn't remember much after that. She remembered rushing forward, she remembered her eyes burning in an ill fated attempt to make tears, but that was all. Apparently she'd gone hysterical and someone had pumped her full of tranquillizers, but what did it really matter? Her mother was dead. She was alone. And that was only the beginning…

You would think that having your mother being flattened by a car would the proverbial icing on the cake, but it was not to be. Being as she had no living relatives, she was considered an orphan and until she was legally an adult, she couldn't gain her mother's assets. No money, no house, no school tuition. Nothing. At first, Haru had thought that her friends would help her out, someone, anyone.

There was one thing, though. The thing that she had not reckoned on was the abhorrent power of death and grief. People were repelled by them as if death was as catchy as the bubonic plague. They were willing to deal with her problems, her rages, her melancholies, her hopeless crushes, and her failures in trigonometry, but they were in no way prepared to deal with a Haru who had left the room a second before her mother died. Unwilling, unable, unfriendly; they had no clue how to help her. When she mourned, they were uncomfortable. They didn't know what to do, so they did nothing. Even Hiromi, her best friend, had uttered hasty excuses and slipped away. It was as if she had drifted out onto a desert island, and no one would ever see her again.

Now came the icing, the last straw, the coup de grace. Money could get one out of anything, even murder. As it turned out, the drunkard who had been at the root of the whole mess got off scot-free. She had known he had been well-off, but that he was the baby brother of a government official she hadn't. He had gotten off on a carefully maneuvered technicality…

Now here she was, her backpack full of the few things that she felt she needed to bring with her, maneuvering quietly though the darkened midnight streets of her hometown. The seventeen-year-old had left her home before it could leave her. It was destined to be sold, and she was destined to be sent to a foster home. But then again, she had once been destined to marry a cat, and that hadn't exactly worked out. Of course there was always the option labeled 'screw destiny', which she had decided was most likely the best course of action. She had no idea where she was going, she knew where she wished she could go, but that was out of the question.

"If you need us, you'll always know where to find us."

The words of an orange-striped green-eyed catlike figure, replayed once again in her memory. She knew alright, she knew that if she looked, if she put her mind to it, she would find that miniature world that housed cats and creations. No problem. The knowledge was always there like a red warning light blinking in the back of her brain. The scant years that had passed since her kidnapping and rescue had served at least once purpose: time to think everything over.

What she had learned was to be true to herself, to be proud of both who and what she was. She was Haru. Haru: rescuer of Prince Lune, erstwhile translator of cats, all around klutz, champion of being late, and maker of sometimes questionable tea who stuck her nose in other people's business. And entangled with all of that, was the simple fact that she was human.

Human. There was no way that she could fit into either the Cat Bureau or the Kingdom of Cats, literally. She could go to the Cat Bureau, but what then? The Baron couldn't bring her mother back to life. She couldn't stay in their world; she had had to crawl through the Bureau's front doors on her hands and knees and just barely fit. She wouldn't have anywhere to stay, it was hysterically impractical. Then there was the wishful thinking, if only she was a cat… She'd fit in then, but that was beside the point. She had gone through hell and high water NOT to be a cat. She had fought tooth and nail, traversed a labyrinth, climbed up a ridiculous amount of stairs, and gone skydiving without a parachute to remain human. The whole point was to be true to yourself, there was no way she would give up her humanity that she had worked so hard for. That would make all of her friends, the Baron's, efforts in vain.

It wasn't as if the Baron was truly a cat, even. He was a creation, a figurine that gained a soul through pure belief. As the Cat King had said, the Baron Humbert Von Gikingen was not a part of his kingdom. He did wear shoes and have opposable thumbs, after all… If things had been different, it might have been possible. If only, if only…

It was then that a sound penetrated her once numb ears. Slowly at first, insidiously, cruel laughter filtered in. She didn't like implication of it, but she followed it anyway. She crept up and peered around the corner of the alley the sound seemed to come from, and watched with widened eyes.

A group of several boys who looked far too young to be out so late were standing in a ring looking down at some small struggling thing trapped within their midst.

"What'd we do with it now?"

"I dunno."

"I've got an idea, why don't we take it to that bridge over the highway and throw it off?"

"Yeah! And then maybe we'll get to see it get run over!"

And that particular subject was probably the worst thing that could possibly be brought up within listening distance of Haru. The poor children had no inkling of the ferocious creature that they had unleashed with but a few careless words.

"Muahahahahahaha! I am the Dark Alley Slasher! I drink the blood of pre-pubescent children through cuts I inflict with my enchanted flying knives of glass! Run! Run, for the sake of your very souls!"

Under normal circumstances, the ruse probably wouldn't have worked, but the night WAS rather dark, and spooky. And being as serial killers were, in fact, known to occasionally wander about at night, and that Haru looked a teeny bit murderous at that moment, when something that sounded a lot like shattering glass hit the wall beside the kids, they all scattered like bowling pins.

Haru sighed. "Serves them right…" She muttered as she picked her way through the remnants of the discarded bottle she had thrown and over to the creature whose life she had rescued.

She should have known.

A cat. An unusual looking cat, but not a member of the royal family as far as she could tell. Goody. It was a 'beckoning cat', a bobtail. Interesting. It looked up at her with hot green eyes that hardened slightly at her approach. Haru reached down slowly, and began to tug at the cords that the boys had used to tie the poor cat's feet together so that it couldn't move. She wondered how a cat could allow itself to be hogtied voluntarily, but decided not to dwell on it. The feline looked pissed off as it was, best not to complicate things.

"There you go." The girl voiced, once the last of the cord was free. The cat hopped to its feet and looked at her with an expression of incredulity and curiosity. It made no attempt to move away. Haru looked at the bobtail, and the bobtail looked at Haru. 'It is a lovely cat…' Haru mused. White, with tortoiseshell markings on the legs, tail, and the top of its head. The animal seemed to be scrutinizing her in the exact same way, and then it finally spoke.

"You can understand what I'm saying, can't you?" The voice was distinctly feminine. So much for 'it'.

"Pretty much. Yeah."

"Oh. Well then, thank you."

"No problem." Haru stood up to leave, all at once even more aware that she had no idea where she was going.

"Wait!" Uh oh. Here it came... "There has to be some way that I can repay you! You saved my life!"

"No, no. That's ok! You don't need to thank me at all!" Haru waved her hands, frantically trying to emphasize her point. "No offense, but you cats tend to get carried away!"

The cat tilted her head to the side, and then pulled up onto her hind legs, an action that was eerily familiar. "You've been in a situation such as this before?" Haru sighed and collapsed. She needed someone to listen to her problems damn it, and this critter was asking for it. She immediately launched into an abridged account of her adventures, editing out a few things, but trying to be accurate. Almost without her brain's consent, to her embarrassment, as soon as she was done she added onto the end the death of her mother and her current plight. In the meantime, the cat had crawled up into her lap and sat listening attentively, occasionally letting out a soothing purr.

"I think I can help you." The cat said, holding one paw up, as if resting it. Haru could see why the breed was called 'beckoning' then. "I may be no princess, that isn't who I am, but I do have a certain power…" The bobtail paused, looking suddenly more intense. "I can give you your heart's desire, Haru. I can grant that single wish of the heart; I can give that to you. Do you want it?"

"Do I want what? What if it's not what I want?"

"It can't be. I wouldn't be giving you what I think you should have, I'd be giving you what you really want, deep inside."

"Can you bring my mother back?" Haru gave a watery smile, and white whiskers drooped.

"No. I can't do anything like that."

"Then what else is there!" A ragged part of Haru showed then, a part that held pain deep inside, like koi trapped in a vase, growing too large to swim comfortably. The cat stood on her hind legs again, only this time since she was standing in Haru's lap their eyes were exactly level with one another.

"I'll show you." Then, she leapt away and ran off, stopping just before she got out of sight. "Come on, come on!" Helpless to do anything else, Haru followed.

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Her footsteps echoed through the deserted streets as she followed what might as well have been a ghost. The cat made no sound merely ran, looking back once every so often to make sure that she was keeping up. It didn't take Haru very long for her to realize that the surroundings were familiar. The wall the cat climbed along the top of, leading her to scale a stairway of window ledges. When she came to the tin rooftop that led to the concrete stair, she didn't really need a guide anymore. Had they even passed the crossroads? She didn't remember it. Her heart was stuck somewhere up in her throat and pounded in time with her footsteps. Tunnel vision developed with a vengeance, till the sight of an ornate arch surged into view and everything stopped. Her feet, her heart, time itself.

A muggy summer rain began to fall, and the moon which she though had abandoned her shone a muted light through the veil of dark clouds, just barely enough light to see by. Nostalgia washed over her like the ocean surf, it looked exactly the same as before! But not… Maybe it was just the lack of light, or the rain, or both, but something was most definitely different… She couldn't put her finger on it.

And then she realized that the cat was gone.

She hadn't gone through the archway, she would have seen her, but neither had the cat gone back the way she came. She had just disappeared. Haru blinked, and then winced when a particularly fat raindrop fell directly into her eye. She stood there for what felt like hours, but probably was only a few minutes, too shell-shocked to move and steadily getting wetter. Finally, in a single movement that took all her effort, she drummed up the courage to take a step forward, and peer towards where she knew a beautiful little house stood.

And there it was. A lone lamp hung glowing and golden by the doors and a warm light shone out from behind the curtains, a welcoming beacon. Haru walked out into the round cobblestone courtyard. All the other little houses watched her with black quicksilver window eyes, looking empty, but all at once she wondered if they really were… What were all the other houses there for, anyway, and who lived in them? The question floated away as she approached the center of the courtyard, and Toto the crow statue's pedestal. She craned her head back to get a good look, realizing that he wasn't there. Maybe he was inside the Cat Bureau. Or maybe he was flying the Baron somewhere… Her mind wandered over the possibilities and then froze… She was taller than the pedestal, so why was she looking up at it?

She drew in a breath so fast that she choked on it, and then hunched over coughing for air. She was small! Cat-sized! What the hell? Quickly, she looked down at her hands and noted gratefully that her outstretched fingers weren't paws. How could this have happened?

The cat. The cat had done this to her.

"My heart's desire…" She whispered to herself. Hadn't she wished that she had a place in the Baron's world? And size had really been the only thing holding her back. Maybe it really was what she truly desired… And with that thought in her mind, she began walking purposefully towards the Bureau, quite a feat when one can't feel their legs… The ornate double doors seemed to loom up before her before she could blink. She could hardly believe that she had had to crawl through them last time. 'Well. Here it goes…' She thought to herself. She raised a hand, made a fist, and knocked.

At first all was silent except the rain scattering down, and a cold shiver started up somewhere within her. Then there were footsteps, soft, but there. The overloud sound of the tumblers clicking sent her heart even farther up in her than it already was, and then the door eased open.

Yay.

And there stood Baron Humbert Von Gikingen of the Cat Bureau, looking down at her from the fractions of an inch that separated their respective heights. He wasn't wearing his top hat or his tailed coat, only a crisp white shirt and a deep ivory vest. He didn't say a word, his huge green eyes widened in shock.

"Well…" Haru finally spoke. "Does this count as needing help?" And at that point she did the most embarrassing thing she had ever done in her life… She fainted.

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When she awoke, it was on something soft and warm. The sweet aroma of something vaguely cinnamony filled the air, and she inhaled it into her lungs giddily, without a second thought. The sound of china clinking together somewhere in the background pierced through her senses and brought her fully awake. She cracked her eyes open slowly, surveying her surroundings through brown slits.

She was lying on one of those Victorian era, fainting couches (how appropriate), upholstered in green crushed velvet. A grandfather clock was ticking monotonously against the wall nearest her, the swinging golden pendulum reflecting her prone form. She stared at the moving mirror-image of herself, startled by how haunted she appeared. She looked like a rain-soaked suicidal Raggedy Ann doll. When had her hair started sticking out in every direction? When had those dark circles formed under her eyes? She was looking at herself for the first time in ages, and she was certain she didn't like what she saw. It was then that the scent of tea, and chicken soup poked at her tired brain and a familiar form drifted up from behind her into the reflection. Slowly, Haru rolled over towards him and met his gaze.

"Good evening, Haru… Or should I say, morning?"

He smiled, she melted. Damn, it was good to see him again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't wake you up, did I?" She was horrified when her voice came out like something of a croak. An embarrassed blush clouded her cheeks.

"No, actually. I was up late doing some paperwork, and I'm certainly glad that I did." He placed the steaming tray he was carrying on a small nearby table and took a seat on the edge of the couch. He looked at her appraisingly, with a hint of concern in his eyes, and raised a gloved hand to place on her forehead. "No fever. You seem to be alright." He removed his hand and cleared his throat. "Other than the obvious, that is."

Haru smiled, weakly and braced herself with her arms so that she was for the most part sitting up. Ignoring his silent question, she posed a question of her own. "Where are the others? Toto and Muta?"

"I sent Toto out on an errand, and Muta had his own affairs to attend to…"

Haru cursed to herself, silently. There was no way that she would be able to weasel out of his questioning. Why was she so hesitant anyway? Maybe she thought that he might not believe her, or that he might send her somewhere else, or that he might want to try to find someway to fix her… At the moment, she didn't want fixing. She wanted to stay as she was, at least then she wasn't alone…

"Haru, I don't mean to pry, but…" One of the Baron's ears was tipped slightly to the side, making him look more than a bit confused. He probably had no idea that he was doing it, but Haru giggled anyway. Funny… She hadn't felt like laughing in a long time. She smiled and looked down at her hands, starting a bit when a warm cup of tea was pressed into them. Then she inhaled the fragrant steam and began her tale.

And she told him everything… Under any other circumstances, it might have occurred to her to edit some things, but she was at the Cat Bureau, and this was Baron. Holding back held no place in her mind at all. She told him about her mother; the anger, the heartbreak, the sorrow, the injustice and suffering of it all. She told him about her friends and how she had been abandoned. She told him about running as the last resort, drifting towards nowhere. She told him about the cat, and what happened after.

At the end of the story, she found both that her cup was empty and that the Baron's hand had somehow found her own. It was a small comfort, but it made her feel better than anything else had.

"And this cat? Are you sure that you've never seen her before, not even while we were in the Kingdom of Cats? Be sure."

"No, no I'm sure. I would have remembered seeing a cat with a short tail before…" She looked down at her cup, pressing the smooth cooling porcelain between her hands. Then she watched the Baron out of the corner of her eyes, noting as his expression changed from concern to thoughtfulness to concern again.

"I am sorry about your mother, Haru…"

"It's ok…" She looked up straight into his eyes, and for some reason, her eyelids began to burn. "I think I'm starting to get over it…" A strange sensation began to bubble up in her throat.

The Baron looked at her, his face stone serious. "No you don't…" He murmured, very softly, very quietly. And then he leaned forward and pulled her unresisting form to him.

And that was when she realized that she was crying; tears were streaming down her face in rivulets. Finally after all traumas, after everything, for the first time since everything went sour. It felt good to cry, so she did. Haru cried as if her heart were breaking and healing all at once. She cried out all the pain and anger and hopelessness that she had been feeling, and all the while, she clung to the Baron, her face buried against his chest. 'He smells like tea-leaves…' she though to herself in between sobs. It was strange. She had been carried by him, been close to him before, but she had never noticed that he smelled so nice. She rubbed her cheek against the buttons of his vest, and she felt his arms around her tighten slightly. Eventually, her weeping subsided into persistent hiccups, but still he held her, rocking her every so often and rubbing her back in soothing circles.

She felt miserable, but at the same time she felt free. Empty, but in a good way. Whatever anchor had been holding her down had been released, and she was free to fly again. The two of them sat there, reveling in one another's presence till the clock nearby bonged twice, startling them apart. They looked at each other sheepishly for a bit, till Haru hiccupped and spoiled the moment. The Baron smiled, amused, and rose from the couch, offering her his hand.

"Come on. You've had a hard night and you need to get some sleep." Automatically, she accepted his gesture and allowed him to help her stand. "There are guest rooms in the back of the house. You're welcome to one for as long as you like."

Haru's gaze jumped to his, startled. She hoped that her hopes weren't in her eyes. "You mean I can stay?"

He nodded. "For as long as you're willing to put up with me for a host."

And she leapt at him, with glee. "Thank you, Baron! Thank you! I won't be too much trouble, will I?"

He gently extricated himself from her grasp, and began to lead her towards a door she hadn't noticed before. "Of course it won't be any trouble. Now let's get you off to bed." He opened up the white door, and they found themselves in a short hall. It was rather dark, the carpets deep purple, the whole looking rather mysterious. There were four doors, two on either wall. Her guide led her to the first door on the left, and opened it for her. "I think this will be to your liking." Haru drew in a breath of awe and stepped in, looking about. It was a gold room, the carpet and curtains pale gold, and the bed and canopy dark gold. There was an elegantly carved divan with mirror, and a wardrobe. It probably looked beautiful when the sun was shining in.

"I've said it one, Baron, and I'll probably say it again: you have great taste." Haru complimented.

"Thank you." He replied. "I'll leave you here to get settled, and I'll go get you your things." She turned back to look at him just as he slipped out the door and shut it softly behind him and blushed. That certainly worked out well… She smiled, and pulled off her shoes before she crossed over to the bed and hopped up onto the comfy surface. It was certainly a comfortable bed, the kind you could just snuggle into… Haru did just that, barely registering when the door opened. She opened her eyes when The Baron placed her backpack by the bedside.

"Thank you, Baron. Really, for everything."

"You're welcome. Now you get plenty of sleep. I expect you to eat a full breakfast in the morning." He started on his way out.

"I hope nothing else bad happens… I don't think I could take it." She said, voicing a very real fear.

The feline poked his head around the door. "I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. They say that bobtails are supposed to be good luck, after all… Goodnight Haru."

"Goodnight Baron."

The door closed, Haru smiled, and then she slept without nightmares…

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So, what did you think? Just so you know 'the cat' is a breed called the Japanese Bobtail. They're cute as heck, and I wish I had one. And they are actually considered good luck. And here's why…

JJ's random Japanese folklore facts: The reason that the Japanese bobtail was bred to have a short tail, was because it was once believed that once a cat reached a certain age, its tail would split down the middle. Sometimes it would split into two separate tails, sometimes just at the tip. Once this happened, the cat would become a demon (youkai) called Nekomatta, and get all kinds of freaky powers. Usually when this happened to a house pet, the poor critter was kicked out of the household. Now this would usually piss the cat off, so it would curse the family and do all sorts of mean stuff. (And a cat's curse lasts seven generations!) One interesting the cat could do with its powers was reanimate the dead relatives of the people who shunned it and make them dance around in the front yard. So it was believed that if the cat had a short tail, it couldn't split, and therefore couldn't become a demon. Cat's tails were often cut off for this reason too. By the way, Kirara from the anime Inuyasha is a nekomatta… Just so you know…

And the moral of the story is: be nice to your cat. Especially if it's tail starts to look funky…

Ok then. Please R&R! I will love you all forever:D

Tata, JJ


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